Baby Toby

Joseph Tobia Moss

March 20, 2010

"baby Toby"

A perfect gift from Heaven

Soft, full, kissable cheeks

10 sweet fingers

10 cute toes

Fresh new life

Bringing with him the true essense of heaven

Though life was brief for our baby Toby

His affect has been great.

He knows us
He will not forget

We have known him

We must remember

remember the precious time he spent in each of our arms

remember a baby brother worthy enough not to be tested here

remember this active, strong spirit who is a part of our eternal family

remember that we knew him before and want to be with him again

remember that he is cheering us on, interested in each of us and our eternal success

Remember that we can overcome our weaknesses and imperfections and be with him again because of a perfect big brother, Jesus Christ, our Savior. He, too, longs for our happiness and return.

Yes, for us, a beautiful reminder of the hope and joy found in the perfect plan of a loving Heavenly Father was wrapped up in a sweet little baby boy bundle . . .

Truly a perfect gift from Heaven.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Don't you just love a reason to wear green, eat green, think magical thoughts, make rainbows, read stories with your own version of an Irish accent, . . .?

I do.

Yeah, St. Patrick's Day!!!

Adam Von turns 9

Adam Von Moss has turned 9 years old.

It is just so strange to think of my boys turning the ages I remember so well, myself.

We had our friends, the Midgley family, come for his party. He and Taylor Midgley were best of friends before we moved and were very happy to see one another again.

Adam wanted a "Lego" birthday. He ended up with some very cool Lego toys, and was thrilled to receive each of them. After he had opened all his gifts he said, with pure contentment, "I just don't know how to thank all of you enough!" So sweet and fun.

He also received a nerf gun, which has been in action by either him or one of his brothers ever since. Grandma got into the action one day--they were doing human targets that day. She took her turn as a target, and then got to shoot at Eli.

Adam is as stubborn and charming as ever. He loves drawing, building, hearing funny stories about himself, playing madlibs (fav. nouns: poo, bum, and armpit hair--his fav. verbs and adjectives can be guessed), and doing anything to make others laugh. He wishes his mother would let him have video games, but is pretty creative and finds other things to fill his day.

We love our Adam!!

The Movers are in my house right now!!

So crazy that this is all actually happening!
I haven't posted in awhile and won't be able to after today because the movers are taking my computer and sending it to the good ol' U.S.A!

I have a lot of mixed feelings about going back. We are excited to see some old friends and to live closer to family (CT used to sound so far from Utah and Idaho, but now it sounds a whole lot closer).
We will miss so many of our sweet friends and neighbors here in Italy. We have had a few tearful hugs already at church, and one sweet sister scowls at me whenever she gets the chance and says, "cattiva!" (bad, wicked, evil). It is her way of letting me know that we are breaking her heart. Oh, Marisa! And, I don't want to think of saying good-bye to Cinzia!

I get teary often when I look out my back windows and know that I won't be waking up to this view everyday, or watching next year's crop grow behind my house. I really have just loved living out here in the Italian country-side. You can bet that I will be looking for a place in the U.S. where I can enjoy fields of corn and wheat once more--maybe a few orchards. . .and grape vines . . . and cute farmers who like my children to run around in them all (asking too much?).
Anyway, we know that once we get back to CT and get everything settled, we will love it, just as we did before we moved here. I am grateful to know where I am going, and that the Bloomfield ward family is waiting with open arms.

This has been quite an episode in THE LIVES OF DAVID AND REBEKAH MOSS. I hope that I can find a way to capture the magical parts of this experience so that I will never forget them. There have been plenty of challenges here, but right now they feel so small in comparison with all the beautiful things.

I think that Eli and Adam will "grow up" more than I want them to this next year--they have stayed even younger than their ages in our somewhat isolated situation. Gabriel will hopefully stay little a bit longer, and Isaac is already too old for himself.

I have cherished this special time with all "little" boys. I have soaked it all in, I think, but I still feel a sense of mourning for this special era in our lives. I can see that Eli, who turns 11 in April, will be a young man very soon, though I think he will always have some of the magic of "little boy" in him. The other will quickly follow, as life just continues to fly by.
Okay, you can tell that I am at a particularly sentimental time right now. All my emotions are at surface.

Italy has been the hardest, neatest experience. I am so grateful that I followed the feeling in my heart that this was right for us, instead of following the worry in my mind and saying "no thanks--too hard".

I know that Heavenly Father loves us and knows what is best for us, if we will just open our hearts to the messages He sends, and turn our lives over to Him, the outcome will always be right and good and filled with peaceful assurance.

Next post will be from our sweet old friendly house number 11!

Winter Wonderland

We had a great adventure a couple weeks ago. We decided that we wanted to see the Ice Mummy in Balzano, Italy (in 1991 a man was found in the Alps, frozen in the snow. After really looking him over they discovered that he was at least 5, 000 years old)! They have him in a cool freezer room so you can see the body--it was mummified very well by the snow and Ice. His clothes are in amazing shape, considering their age (also in temperature controlled display cases). It was very interesting. We couldn't take pictures inside, so we have no evidence, but we thought it was cool. Isaac loved roaming around and being chased by us--he set off only one alarm the whole time (leaned too far into a display--the alarm led us to him, we had lost him for a minute)
While in Bolzano we discovered that there is a big Christmas market in the city center.
Bolzano is about 20 min. from Austria. All of the signs are in both Italian and German. The Austrian influence is great in the architecture and decoration. I loved it. Our Hotel was this yellow, old-fashioned, adorable building.
The market was filled with cute ornaments and such (mostly very breakable--we only bought one cute wooden star). We mostly enjoyed it for the food--hot cheese sandwiches, hot dogs with saurkraut, struedel, hot chocolate, pretzels, chocolate, . . . YUM!
I have made the drive up that direction before and have to say that it is one of the prettiest views ever! I love the mountains covered in orchards and vineyards, with adorable old homes dotted here and there. I just look out the window and , "ohhh, ahhhh! Oh, David, look at that! Dont' you just want to live there? Can you even imagine? . . ." So charming!!

Snow Days!!!!! What?! Cesena, Italy has snow enough to play in?!

Yes. For the first time in the 3 years we have lived here there is snow to play in.

The boys were so excited they could barely stand to eat breakfast before running out there. It was freezing, and we don't have great snow stuff, so it didnt' last super long, but they sure had fun.

David was able to go out with them on Saturday and build a snowman.

Gabriel doen't remember ever really playing in snow before and he was so cute about it.

Isaac kept looking out the window and trying to figure out what this stuff was.
Talk about amazing timing--we may even have a white-ish Christmas!

Can't believe that Christmas is coming so soon. I just don't want the season to end. I keep trying to convince my children that we should wait a few more weeks to celebrate at our house--they don't agree with me!

They are watching White Christmas right now--they love this movie (Danny Kaye has become one of their favorite actors). Their favorite part is when the guys sing "Sisters", of course!

There are just so many great things about Christmas time.

Isaac is 2 years old, already?!!

Little Isaac turned 2 today.

Sometimes I can't believe that he is so big, but I also just can't really remember our before-Isaac-family. He is such a big part of our lives, it seems he must have always been here.

Isaac has so much energy. He loves to climb and explore; he seems to have no fear of bodily harm and is constantly testing the limits (we have dealt with his kind before, but it makes a difference when one's house is exclusively hard, tile flooring). This morning I had to quickly grab him when he decided to try going down our long set marble stairs, head-first--He had done this a few times on the set of 4 steps we have upstairs, and was successful, so . . .

Isaac loves books. He mostly loves to see pictures of animals inside of books. He will bring me a book "boot" whenever he sees me sitting on the couch. He just climbs up, flips through the pages for me, exclaims at every person or animal--saying "hello" for the people and generally "roar" for the animal--and when he is ready for another says, "awe done!", throws that one on the floor and goes to get another one. If no one is able to read to him, he find books just as thrilling to pull off the shelves and toss around the room--the possibilities really are endless when it comes to books!

Isaac loves stuffed animals--really anything very soft. My other boys like them now, but really didn't get into them as little boys. Isaac just can't help but squeeze and snuggle anything soft. Of course, he likes the real thing, too, and "gatto", the cat, often finds himself tackeled and laid upon by Isaac.

For his birthday today he received two stuffed kittens and the first thing he did was squeeze and breathe them in and give them a good welcome "meow". Then he took them to the cow trough we have in the kitchen, got inside with them, laid down, and used them as his pillows--he was content this way for quite some time.

Isaac loves his brothers. They each play a different role in his life, and each is important. He seems to have figured out a system of when to ask whom to play with him. Eli is his morning brother and his best outside-time buddy. Adam loves to play at job-time, and is great for monster play before meals. Gabriel is off and on all day--Isaac often grabs Gabriel during school-time and says, "Dabey! Play! Amals (animals)!" His world is a better one because he is lucky enough to have 3 big brothers to mimick, idolize, bother, and love.

Isaac, you are handsome, funny, exhausting, curious, adored, . . . and you've only just begun!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

So much to be thankful for . . .

I am so blessed. As I have been going through photos from the last couple of months, I have been overwhelmed by the big and little things that make my life so wonderful, and for which I am so grateful. Here are just a few of the many gifts I have been given:

Amazing family:

My kind, sweet, selfless grandmother:

A love for nature--something my boys share with me:

Healthy, energetic boys (sometimes I forget that energy is a blessing)

A sweet, smiley Gabey face--who wouldn't want a basketfull of that?!

Good friends:

Dirt--it saves my life:

Sweet blond hair to add variety to our brown-haired crew:

Lack of Television programs, but joy of the occassional DVD

(like for family "haircuts and a movie night")

*this was Isaac's first haircut--just a little off the bottom

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I don't know how people get through life without it!

This is La Primaria del Ramo di Forli:

Sweet brother moments:

A House to live in--and we really LIVE in it--and a great yard for exploring and adventuring:

Obviously,

THE BOYS who make life full, challenging, unpredictable, and fun.

And a Practically Perfect husband, who takes such good care of all of us

(So glad that he fell for me):

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for all that I have been blessed with.